Kidnapped

Most adults today have seen at least one of a dozen Kidnapped movies as kids growing up. The Robert Louis Stevenson novel had captured the imagination of Hollywood producers from the budding years of cinema. The first film version of the Stevenson book was May 1917's "Kidnapped."

Edison Studios was barely kicking after its pioneering film days, dinged by an April 1917 United States Supreme Court ruling against Edison and his Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) trust's appeal of the SCOUS 1915 decision to put the kibosh to its monopoly. Once the breakup 1917 ruling happened, Edison Studios soon closed up its film production shop within a year and sold its assets to the Lincoln & Parker Film Company in Worcester, Massachusetts.

But before it did, however, Edison embarked on an ambitious series designed for children and families consisting of a short comedy, a travelogue, a news magazine clip, before the main attraction, a feature film was shown--all in an one evening's sitting. Edison Studios called this series the Conquest Production. "Kidnapped" was the ninth of twelve such packages of movies released.

This 1917 version of "Kidnapped" began the public's love affair with the Scottish Highlands. Despite being filmed in New York and New Jersey, "Kidnapped's" setting harkens back to the Jacobite days of the 1750's in Scotland. Director Alan Crosland, who later directed Al Jolson in what is considered the first talking picture, 1927's "The Jazz Singer," was able to use castle backdrops in the two states. It has been suggested Paterno Castle and Libbey Castle were the stone structures used for "Kidnapped."

Although the Stevenson book is a labyrinth of twists and turns of a complex history, the 1917 film is straightforward in its delivery, cutting out unnecessary sidebars and focusing in on young David Balfour after his parents died. His uncle, afraid he was getting kicked out of his castle which David inherited, set up his nephew's kidnapping and planned sale as a slave in North Caroline. When the character Alan Breck is introduced, viewers then get an education on the history of the intrigue and conspiracies occurring during the Jacobite Scottish period.

Edison's "Kidnapped" became the blueprint for the remakes of Stevenson's story, all of them with sound and dialogue. Making this 1917 film the only silent version ever produced.

This is the featured film of the 9th of 12 Conquest Film programs released by the Edison company in 1917. All five titles from that have recently been restored and issued on dvd by Fritzi Kramer with a score by Ben Model in cooperation with the Library of Congress via a Kickstarter program. Ms. Kramer hopes to have the set available for more general release soon.

Raymond McKee is David Balfour, a young lad who, on the death of his father, is sent to his ancestral home of the Shaws, occupied by his uncle, Joseph Burke. Burke was the younger son, and so had no right to the estate, but McKee's father let him have it; now, though, his son should have his rights. Burke, however, has no such intentions. He tries to kill McKee. Failing in that, he has him kidnapped -- or, as we might say nowadays, shanghaied -- aboard a ship bound for North America and slavery. Onto the stage of this story steps Robert Cain as Alan Breck, a swaggering adventurer who, confronted with a boatload of men who mean him harm, leads McKee in a two-man mutiny, then across the wilds of Scotland, back towards the Shaws.

Alan Crosland directs with a sure hand, and offers some views that are surprising to me, despite what I consider a good understanding of silent movies. Although he uses the compositions of the film screen and the infinite vistas well, he sometimes uses theater effects, like spotlights, to focus the eye. The actors are all capable, the characters well-drawn, if broadly so, and the print the dvd was drawn from was handsomely toned -- a coloring process in which the silver nitrate which formed the blacks and grays of most black-and-white prints were replaced by other, more colorful compounds.

All of these -- the bright colors, the broad strokes of character, can be explained by the source material. Robert Louis Stevenson had originally written his novel for young readers -- what we would classify these days as Young Adult Fiction -- and in works like this and TREASURE ISLAND, he invented a new branch of literature. This production captures those impulses excellently for the cinema of a hundred years ago.

This would not be one of my reviews if I did not point out a flaw or two. The minor one is that some of the titles were hard to read. Perhaps, before making the dvd generally available, the titles could be redone in a more legible form. The second flaw is more basic. Raymond McKee is, alas, too old to play David Balfour. At the time of the production of this movie he was 24 or 25. Master Balfour was a callow youth, perhaps ten years younger. In any era when people played children when they were in their 40s. it would not have mattered. Today it requires a greater stretch of the imagination than I or, I fear, most of even a willing audience, can manage.

Released in cooperation with the Library of Congress and under auspicien of Fritzi Kramer of website 'Movies, Silently' the film is part of a complete presentation by the Edison Film Company under their 'Conquest' brand, which ran in the mid-10s of the last century.

The entire program also includes 4 shorts which were shown in theatres back then before the Main Event. So, by playing the entire set you are basically experiencing a movie night out like it was in 1917.

KIDNAPPED is a solid adventure yarn based on the same-titled novel by Robert L. Stevenson. At a mere 65 minutes it moves along at a brisk pace and while omitting some elements from the novel it follows the plot nicely in a cohesive and clear way.

The film looks remarkably fine. Apart from a couple of scratches here and there the image is crisp and clear. There's a few tinted sequences, which work well to separate between the events. Also interesting is the use of the camera. Most of the time it's static, shooting the action from a standard theater-front point of view, but there's a few instances when the camera moves along with the action and it even has a handheld feel to it.

While a large portion of the action takes place on a ship at sea, unfortunately the ship is never shown in full. Probably due to technical and budget issues, it's clear the ship never left the harbour and all sequences were shot while the ship was in the harbour.

However, there are some really gorgeous outdoor shots in the final act, when protagonist David Balfour and his companion have to make a run for it in a snow covered forest.

The movie obviously is not one of the great cinematic achievements of the silent era, but combined with the four shorts it offers a fascinating glimpse at early 20th century 'family movie entertainment'.

I have been a fan of silent movies for many years and am happy to be living in a time where a renewed interest in silent films is growing every day. New titles are being discovered at a remarkable rate and festivals in the U. S. and Europe are drawing larger and more enthusiastic crowds. This year several high quality restorations of a number of films have been or are going to be released. These include titles with Gloria Swanson, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford along with a long awaited personal favorite, the 1924 OLD IRONSIDES.

Along with the Flicker Alley and the Kino releases comes this offering from newcomer Movies Silently headed up by silent film blogger Fritzi Kramer (check out her website), composer Ben Model, and Christopher Bird. They used a Kickstarter campaign with over 300 contributors to bring a complete 1917 program back to contemporary audiences via DVD/Blu-Ray. The program consists of four short films and a short feature based on Robert Louis Stevenson's KIDNAPPED. All were produced in the waning days of the Edison Studio and were released under the Conquest Pictures banner. The four shorts are FRIENDS, ROMANS & LEO - a broad comedy set in Ancient Rome, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD - a silhouette film of the famous fairy tale, QUAINT PROVINCETOWN - an actuality about the town and the fisherman there, and MICROSCOPIC POND LIFE which has groundbreaking photography of the titular creatures.

KIDNAPPED was directed by Alan Crosland who started with the Edison Studio and who wound up directing THE JAZZ SINGER for Warner Brothers which brought about the end of the Silent Era. Crosland, who died in 1936, is a forgotten director today. He was capable of working in a variety of genres. KIDNAPPED was an early swashbuckler that takes advantage of several outdoor locations. The winter scenes were reportedly shot in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. These are contrasted with the obvious studio interiors which looked liked those of a decade earlier. The performances are old fashioned but solid, the action robust, and the pace quite decent. All in all it makes for engaging viewing especially for silent movie lovers.

So hats off to Movies Silently for bringing us this trip back in time. The 16mm prints from the Library of Congress look remarkably good thanks to tweaking from Christopher Bird and Ben Model's piano accompaniment enhances the viewing experience. I have a fondness for movies made on the East Coast before the 1920s when Hollywood took over. I have Kino's EDISON set and now this collection. Someday I hope to have a restored version of the 1910 Edison FRANKENSTEIN and speed corrected versions of the 1910 CHRISTMAS CAROL and 1905 NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (both in Kino's CHRISTMAS PAST set). Then I will truly be a happy camper...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.